India’s Central Silk Board (CSB) chairman KM Hanumantharayappa in Bhubaneswar has sought proposals for three years from the state governments under the newly-formed ‘Central Sector Schemes (CCS) for Development of Silk Industry’. For the development of sericulture Odisha will get Rs 6.3 crore under CSS during 2017-18, he said.

About 90 per cent of the total silk produced in Odisha is from tasar. Hanumantharayappa visited silk clusters in Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts has encouraged farmers to cultivate more mulberry as it is priced high compared to other silks in the country, according to sources.

The CSB plans to open a seed farm at Koraput as Odisha is now receiving the eri basic seed from Assam and Tamil Nadu. Two clusters at Ghatagaon in Keonjhar and Kashipur in Rayagada district are being set up to raise mulberry production, he added.

Around 20,000 tribal families in the state are practicing sericulture of which more than 16,000 are tasar farmers. Of the 125 tonne silk produced by the state last year, 115 tonne was of the tasar variety. Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar and Sundargarh are the three major tasar producing districts, contributing nine-tenths of tasar silk production in the state.